e knew that just beyond it Bonavista stood above the sparkling
sea.

He was on his way from the railroad depot. It was just a fortnight
since he had left the _Tillicum_ at the little mining town, on the day
after the one he and Violet Hamilton had spent on the beach, and he
had not seen her before he went. Now he fancied that a welcome awaited
him, and he felt sincerely pleased to be back again. As he sat beneath
a great cedar filling his pipe, it seemed to him only appropriate that
he should approach Bonavista through that belt of cool, sweet-scented
Bush. It made it easier to feel that he had left behind him all that
associated him with the strife and bustle of the hot and noisy cities.
At Bonavista were leisure, comfort, and tranquillity, which were,
after all, things that made a strong appeal to one side of his nature,
and he had made no progress in the city. There was also no doubt that
both Mr. and Mrs. Acton were glad to entertain him for a time. He sat
still a few minutes, and then went on slowly beneath the towering
redwoods and cedars until he came out of the forest, and saw the
sunlight stream down on the shingled roof of Bonavista close ahead.

The house appeared to be empty, and he had shed his dusty city clothes
in his room and had dressed again before he came upon Mrs. Acton,
sitting half asleep on a secluded strip of veranda. She roused herself
and smiled when she saw him.

"So you have come back at last. We have been expecting you all the
past week," she said.

"That," returned Nasmyth, "was remarkably good of you. In fact, I have
wondered now and then, with some misgivings, whether you have not seen
too much of me already."

Mrs. Acton laughed. "You needn't worry yourself on that point. We have
all our little hobbies. My husband's is the acquisition of dollars and
the opening of mines and mills. Mine is the amusing of my friends, or,
rather, the permitting them to amuse themselves, which is why I had
Bonavista built. I make only one stipulation--it is that when you stay
with us, you are amused."

With a little sigh of content, Nasmyth settled himself in a canvas
chair, and glanced out between the slender pillars of the cool veranda
at the wall of dusky forest and the flashing sea.

"Ah," he replied, "can you doubt it, my dear lady? After logging camp
and mine and city, this is an enchanted land. I think it is always
summer afternoon at Bonavista."

Mrs. Acton smiled at him graciously. "That,"